The author seems to use Islam, Arab and Arabic (the language?) as synonymous, and lumps in Muslim (but non-Arab) scientists under the Arabic umbrella. That make

The author seems to use Islam, Arab and Arabic (the language?) as synonymous, and lumps in Muslim (but non-Arab) scientists under the Arabic umbrella. That makes as much sense as lumping in Chinese-Americans under "English scientists." Looking into the author of the article it makes it seem like this entire article is an intentionally malicious submarine[0] rather than something out of incompetence. But I digress. Arabs, as in the ethnic group, have never been scientifically driven. It has always been the Ajam (Greeks, Jews, Persians, Afghans, Turkics, Lebanese, Armenians, Assyrians, and so on) in Arab-majority lands that have contributed academically. Modern countries with multicultural backgrounds (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq) had their scientists leave the countries for places like the US and UK in the first half of the 20th century due to better facilities, and the second half (as scientific contribution became more inclusive) has been in a state of chaos that also led to significant brain drain. The only actually stable countries are exclusively Arab theocracies (Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait) that have no historical or cultural inclination, let alone drive, towards the sciences. The non-Arab lands that the author's description of the "Arabic (sic) world" seems to lump in includes Iran -- which is effectively under siege and prevented from contributing -- and Turkey, which does do a great deal of contribution. [0] https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html